USC 104
|Row 3 title = Participants |Row 3 info =52 |Row 4 title = Debuting countries |Row 4 info =None |Row 5 title = Returning countries |Row 5 info = , , |Row 6 title = Withdrawing countries |Row 6 info = , , , |Row 7 title = Winner |Row 7 info = Kaleo "Way down we go" |Row 8 title = Timeline |Row 8 info = ◄ Dublin 103 Reykjavik 105► }} Universong 104 is the one hundred and fourth edition of the Universong Contest, held for the second time in the city of Helsinki, Finland from October 28 to November 16, 2017. The fifth Finnish production of the USC is possible thanks to the winning of Haloo Helsinki! with the song "Rakas" on the previous edition held in Dublin, Ireland. 52 countries competed in this edition, with the returns of Albania, Portugal and Vietnam. This edition is considered as one of the hardest in the history of the Universong Contest, because of the high level of the songs and the high amount of previous favourites to win this edition. Ultimately, the winner was Iceland, with the song "Way down we go" by the band Kaleo. The fourth Icelandic winning became evident from the earlier voting stages, ultimately finishing the voting with 232 points, and with eight sets of 12 points (coming, namely, from England, Luxembourg, the USA, Peru, Hungary, Belgium, Colombia and Liechtenstein). Iceland became the third country who accumulated four winnings so far, along with Croatia and Australia, and this score also supposed the record of points for the Scandinavian country. For the second and third places, the struggle was always between Australia and the FYR Macedonia. As a matter of fact, both entries got 205 points, but according to the tie-breaking rules, the Australian entry, "If they only knew" by Alfie Arcuri got ahead the Macedonian entry "Apartment" by former USC champion Bobby Andonov, by virtue of the former receiving votes from one country more than the latter (Australia got votes from 32 countries, while the FYR Macedonia got votes from 31 juries). Even though, both countries received the same amount of maximum points: three each (Australia received 12 points from Vatican City, Israel and Canada; while FYR Macedonia received from Croatia, Serbia and Brazil). More below, Chile got 152 points and fourth place for the song "Todo vuelve a cero" by Carolina Soto, and completing the top 5, Greece, with 145 points for the song "An me dis na klaio" by Helena Paparizou and Anastasios Rammos. The songs from Germany, Denmark, Croatia, Norway and Vietnam completed the top 10. About the city Helsinki (/hɛlˈsɪŋki/; Finnish pronunciation: ˈhelsiŋki ( listen); Swedish: Helsingfors; Swedish pronunciation: hɛlsɪŋˈfɔrs ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 642,045,3 an urban population of 1,231,595,7 and a metropolitan population of over 1.4 million, making it the most populous municipality and urban area in Finland. Helsinki is some 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 390 km (240 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities. The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the urban core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, and surrounding commuter towns.8 It is the world's northernmost metro area of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the third largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries after Stockholm and Copenhagen, and the City of Helsinki is the third largest after Stockholm and Oslo. Helsinki is Finland's major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europe's major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies that operate in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region.9 The nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 201210 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, narrowly beating Eindhoven for the title. The city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In 2011, the Monocle magazine ranked Helsinki the world's most liveable city in its "Liveable Cities Index 2011".11 In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed in ninth place among 140 cities.12 Semifinal 1 In this semifinal, the semifinalists plus shall vote in this semifinal. will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Semifinal 2 In this semifinal, the semifinalists plus shall vote in this semifinal. will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Grand Final Split Results Returning Artists Special Awards Bartek Award Non-English Award hph01 Award Category:Universong Contest